Young Orthodox Mail

From the Office:

• www.oca.org/OCA/Pastoral-Letters/1998-Lent.html
• www.oca.org/OCA/Pastoral-Letters/#MT

Food for the Soul

Mt 6:14-15, 19-21 (from the Gospel for Forgiveness Sunday):

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. ... Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Today is the day when we are given the responsibility, the call, and the ultimate honor to forgive and ask forgiveness from the people in our lives. It's important to remember that forgiving someone doesn't always mean saying that what they did was okay -— just that we choose always to LOVE them even in the face of wrongdoing, deceit, and hurt.

We take a radical step today: to re-commit ourselves to the power of Christ's love. We take this step as a sign of our desire to follow Christ, Who loved and forgave even His murderers as He hung tortured on the cross. We try to do this to the best of our ability.

Of course, the beautiful gift that unfolds for us today at vespers is the showering of love and acceptance that returns to us a hundredfold as those around us kiss us and exchange mercy for mercy.

Some things to think about:

• Is there anyone that I have been holding in my heart, not out of love but because they have hurt me?

• Can I let that person go, offer them up to God, and try to find one thing worth loving in them?

• How often do I continue the hurt someone else has given me by holding onto the pain in my heart, letting it fester and sting?

• Do I choose to stay angry instead of trying to address the problem?

• Instead of placing my heart in hurt or anger, where else would I like to place it?

• Who are some people I may have hurt over the past year, whether knowingly or unknowingly?

"God, it is very hard to forgive, and even harder to ask forgiveness. Send the light of Your love into the deepest corners of my heart and show me where I need to let go of a hurt and replace it with love. Show me also where I need to admit to You and to myself where I was wrong, and to ask forgiveness. Let Your light fill me with warmth and comfort."

An Orthodox Look: The Grammy Awards

This past Wednesday the music industry held its most prestigious awards, the Grammy Awards. As music is such a strong force in our lives, it was interesting to see how the people involved in the industry wanted to portray themselves.

On the upside:

• Will Smith made an incredible statement that rappers and all musicians need to realize their responsibility for what goes into their listeners' ears

• Mike Myers, as a good Roman Catholic, was not ashamed to wear ashes from Ash Wednesday services -- though, because it was Mike Myers, you were hoping it wasn't just a joke

• It was great to hear all the performers such as Erykah Badu, Puff Daddy, and R. Kelley put such a strong emphasis on acknowledging that their gift comes from God -- it was really great to hear R. Kelley mention prayer and thank his pastor during his acceptance speech

• The Academy seems to be making the televised portion of the Awards more a concert and less a long series of "thank you"'s

On the downside:

• O.D.B.'s (of Wu-Tang) need to interrupt the best song writer award presentation to say that they were more worthy of an award than Puff Daddy was nothing more than a show of pride

  Didn't anyone ever talk to him about being a good loser?

• "Soy Bomb" man's unplanned performance with Bob Dylan was a self-centered need to express his feelings in public with no thought of showing any respect to the man who was scheduled to perform

  It did, however, seem like a throw-back to the 60s -- the only thing that helped you realize it wasn't planned was Bob Dylan's reaction.

Questions:

• Was there any security at the awards?

• Why were none of the hard rock and metal awards presented during the telecast and why did none of them perform?

On the Calendar

No events submitted for this issue.

To announce your event here send information to youth@oca.org

In the News

Women reflect on their number of sexual partners

In their recent issue Glamour magazine asked women to reflect on their sexual experiences.

Questions included:

• "How many men have you slept with?"
• "Do you tell your current partner your ‘number'?"
• "Are you happy with your number?"

This has led to ongoing discussions on radio stations and TV talk shows across the US.

In today's society of the 90s where the only cardinal rule about sex is to be safe, women have had some interesting things to say:

• A majority of women wished their number of partners was lower (though some did wish it was higher)

• These women did not feel that they had betrayed their parents or some other person or persons, as much as they felt that they had betrayed themselves, citing feelings of regret over guilt

Why are women having sex that they later regret? Responses have included:

• the desire to feel attractive
• an ignorance about disease
• a difficulty saying "no"
• a subconscious conviction that sex is related to love
• an unwillingness to admit sex's consequences

One woman was quoted saying, "I feel that my experiences thinned my soul, and such an effect takes time to undo." Looking to reorient the place of sex in her life, another said, "I can't change my past, but I can determine my future."

A large misconception about the Church's teachings on marriage and sexuality is that they were developed to deny us a "good time." A more accurate understanding would be that they are to help us stay healthy (emotionally and spiritually, as well as physically).

Real Questions, Real Answers!

Q. (from a college student)

I have an icon over my bed in my dorm. My roommate keeps telling me I'm an idol worshiper for having it. I know that we don't worship icons, but how do I explain it to him?

A.

You can start by saying that Orthodox Christians do not believe that icons in themselves are some sort of divinity or idol -- the icon isn't God, or even a god. The use of icons is based upon the fact that the Son of God became a real human being Who could be depicted in a picture just like any other person. Because of Who He is (the Son of God), we do this in a very particular and special way, which has come to be called the iconographic style.

By the way they are painted (with very special rules requiring continual prayer and fasting) icons point us to the spiritual realities regarding the person or event depicted in the icon. They are the Church's declaration that, through God and His Son, people can and have become holy. They are our reminder that we have no excuse to avoid trying to live holy lives, and are our comfort that we can be connected through our prayers to the people and events depicted in them.

FYI:

• The use of icons has been part of the Christian Church since its very beginning, flourished in the 5th century, and was codified in 787 at the 7th Ecumenical Council

• Church tradition tells us that Christ Himself created the icon "Not-made-by-Hands" (commemorated August 16), when, at the request of a Prince with leprosy who believed that just a picture of Christ would heal him, He wiped his face with a napkin and left a perfect image of His face upon it

• The Church refers to St. Luke the Evangelist as having painted the first icon of Christ and the Theotokos

• While the word "painted" was used above, you will often hear people in the Church say that icons are "written." This is because a proper icon says many things about God and the spiritual qualities of the person or event portrayed in it -- Orthodox Christians can "read" all these things within an icon much like they read the Bible or the lives of the saints

  For this reason icons are called "theology in color"

If you have a question, or know a friend who does, send it to us at youth@oca.org. We'll give you a direct and concise answer!

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